Apple festival organizers unveil 2013 artwork

Tuesday

During a sponsor "thank you" dinner Tuesday at St. Paul's Mountain Vineyards, Apple Festival organizers unveiled the original artwork that will be used on T-shirts and other festival merchandise.

During a sponsor "thank you" dinner Tuesday at St. Paul's Mountain Vineyards, Apple Festival organizers unveiled the original artwork that will be used on T-shirts and other festival merchandise.Hendersonville artist Rhonda Whiteside Shipman said she had "a lot of fun" painting the acrylic-on-canvas painting that promotes a crop that means so much to the local economy."I was born and raised here and I love doing anything that helps promote the Apple Festival, local growers, and our local culture," she said.She used the festival theme, "Harvest of Fun," to bring some "whimsy" to the painting, which will be emblazoned on hundreds of T-shirts, hats and mugs just in time for the festival, which begins Labor Day weekend. The piece took a few weeks to paint from the time that the Apple Festival board of directors voted on this year's theme, she said. Shipman also serves on the festival board and created the artwork for a previous festival, as well as for at least a half-dozen of the artistic bears on display downtown each year from April to October. "I've done the bears several years for my family business, Southeastern Asphalt in Hendersonville, and I painted another bear named, 'Apple of Our Eye' a few years ago for the apple festival. Anything I can do to help promote our amazing community, I'm proud to do," she said. "I've always been an artist, but my main focus has been staying home with my daughter, Kaitlyn, now a sophomore at UNC-Charlotte. Now I'm ready to get back into more artwork, including mixed media."Shipman was diagnosed with breast cancer last August, but says today she's feeling great and had "a great time" working on this year's Apple Festival artwork. Her favorite part of the festival is "the apples, the entertainment — and, of course, the funnel cakes."Festival President Tonya Cochran described Shipman's artwork as "magnificent.""Rhonda is my favorite local artist," she said. "She brings the spirit of Apple Festival to her painting, with beautiful details and an artist's eye for focusing on our 'Harvest of Fun' theme."Reach Tanker at 828-694-7871 or nancy.tanker@blueridgenow.com.

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